


the other half of me

by hamleting



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Catboy Na Jaemin, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Shapeshifting, Slice of Life, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27743413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamleting/pseuds/hamleting
Summary: “I’m not going to that dreadful picnic, to answer your unvoiced question”, Jaemin says as he throws himself on the bed, already looking for the TV remote, “But send me some pictures, yeah?”“We’ve been through this”, Jeno says with a sigh. “It’s okay, they’ll like you.”“Yeah, half of me. Didn’t you say your mom was allergic to cats?”“That doesn’t mean she hates them.”
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 16
Kudos: 151





	the other half of me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lumively](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lumively/gifts).



> inspired by [these pictures](https://twitter.com/lumively/status/1332055025259073550?s=20) provided by miss ilaria
> 
> this is an absolute fever dream written at 3am and it shouldn't be taken as anything other than that

Jaemin isn’t in the living room when Jeno gets home. He doesn’t even reply to Jeno’s classic _Honey, I’m home!_ , which is odd given that Jaemin is a sucker for that kind of domestic affection. He finds him in their room, sitting on the table by the window like a statue and staring at his reflection. He doesn’t even flinch when Jeno bends down to make eye contact with him in the little mirror. He never flinches when he’s in cat form, ever so poised and mysterious.

“Am I interrupting something?” Jeno says, running his fingers through his white fur. Jaemin just blinks, the emerald in his eyes catching the afternoon sun as he turns to jump off the table.

Jeno remembers the first time he witnessed the transformation, a movement so fast he’d had to ask a slightly annoyed Jaemin to do it ten more times before he could catch the exact moment it happened, but after knowing him for so long he doesn’t even bat an eye when the cat in front of him shifts into the form of his boyfriend.

“You were, actually”, Jaemin tells him after giving him a quick kiss, his now dark eyes acquiring their trademark shimmer, “I was practising my cat charisma.”

Jeno winces, “Have you been parading around the building for free food again?”

“You can judge all you want, but Mrs. Kim has the best leftovers.”

“Gross.”

Jaemin smiles proudly all the same and Jeno belatedly realizes he’s still wearing his pyjamas, even though Jeno had told him about a zillion times to be ready once he got home from work. It’s not like Jeno had expected him to actually be ready, but he still sighs a little bit internally. Jaemin notices, if not for his feline instincts then for the fact that they’ve been living together for almost a year now.

“I’m not going to that dreadful picnic, to answer your unvoiced question”, he says as he throws himself on the bed, already looking for the TV remote, “But send me some pictures, yeah?”

“We’ve been through this”, Jeno says with a sigh, this time an external one. He sits next to Jaemin, who ignores him as he does mindless zapping to calm his nerves. It’s a habit of his. Jeno puts a hand over his, and the zapping stops, “It’s okay, they’ll like you.”

“Yeah, half of me. Didn’t you say your mom was allergic to cats?”

“That doesn’t mean she hates them.”

Jaemin hums, giving one hesitant punch to the remote. The TV screen changes to show a gory image of some 80s horror movie that makes Jeno flinch and Jaemin laugh — his masking laugh, the one he uses when he’s way inside his own mind. Jeno reaches towards his white fringe and brushes it gently to the side before kissing his cheek, “We don’t have to do it today. But you’ll have to meet them, eventually… I mean, if you still want to—”

“Of course I want to, silly”, Jaemin says with a half-hearted huff, “I spent weeks looking for the perfect ring, I’m not throwing those away that easily.”

“Right.”

“And I’m also, you know, kind of super in love with you. That, too.”

“What a relief.”

Jaemin glances at him with a little smile. Then he lets himself fall over the pillows, drawing out of him a sigh terribly long and dramatic and _Jaemin._ “Fine”, he says at last, “let’s crash that picnic, or whatever.”

Jeno gives him a satisfied smile, “Great! We’ll leave in ten.” 

Jaemin’s face whitens to match his messy hair at that, so Jeno lays beside him to kiss him until it regains a healthy color. They could afford being a bit late.

  
  


Another one of Jaemin’s habits is digging his nails in whatever he’s holding at the moment of stress. This time, as many others, it’s Jeno’s hand that suffers.

“Why are there so many people?” Jaemin says in a hushed voice, clinging to Jeno’s arm like a scared kid at the Dentist, “I thought it was gonna be just your parents and your sister?”

“I guess she brought her boyfriend, too.”

They’re hiding behind a tree, since Jaemin dragged him there the minute they caught sight of Jeno’s family and their modest picnic setup. A group of old ladies in yoga pants pass chit-chatting by their side as they give them judgy looks, and Jaemin hisses at them.

“Babe, your fangs are showing”, Jeno teases, which only serves for Jaemin to give him an icy glare. Jeno’s eyes hide in a smile, and he gives Jaemin’s hand a reassuring squeeze before dragging them both into the clearing. Jaemin follows, if a bit reluctantly.

The picnic goes fairly well at first. Jaemin is a natural charmer, so even if he’s nervous about meeting Jeno’s family he has them wrapped around his finger after the first smile. He doesn’t fool Jeno, though — he hasn't even touched the lemon muffins, and he _loves_ those. And he can see the way his eyes get a little bit emerald whenever one of his relatives asks him a question, a defense mechanism Jeno only started noticing months into their relationship.

Then the moment comes, the time to announce their engagement, and that also goes by smoothly. Jeno’s dad even sheds a happy tear and his sister confesses she’d had a hunch so she had hidden a champagne bottle in the minifridge. Everything goes splendidly, there’s just another thing they have to get out of the way. But they can wait a little longer — there’s still champagne left and half the food waiting to be eaten, and Jaemin seems to have relaxed at last. 

“Thank you”, Jeno whispers to Jaemin’s ear when the rest are engaged in another conversation, nuzzling his neck, “I’m so glad you came.”

Jaemin smiles, “Me too. They are so nice, I can’t believe I—”

There’s a _thump_ , and a whooshing sound, and before Jeno can even begin to process what’s happening Jaemin’s whole body tenses up and disappears, making Jeno lose balance and almost fall on the grass. Jeno’s sister screams, champagne stains the picnic cloth, a soccer ball buzzes right through where Jaemin’s human body was before bouncing away and Jeno’s mom sneezes. Jeno doesn’t have to look down to know what he’s going to find, but his heart still shrinks when he sees the frightened pair of emerald eyes that are directed at him.

“It’s okay”, Jeno tells Jaemin, who quickly runs to hide behind his back. Jeno can feel his curled up body tremble, and he stretches his arm to caress Jaemin’s head as he offers his family an innocuous smile, “Yeah, we forgot about that detail.”

No one says anything for a while, mouths opening and closing, cheerful yells of unperturbed children in the distance. A lazy bee passes by. Jeno’s mom sneezes again.

It’s his sister the first to come out of the general astonishment, crawling over the picnic cloth like a five-year-old and peeking behind Jeno’s back. “Jaemin?” she says, a hesitant hand suspended mid-air over Jaemin’s hidden face. She exchanges a quick glance with Jeno before clearing her throat, “I really like your fur, it’s very nice.”

Jaemin raises his head a bit and blinks, although Jeno still feels him shivering. Then Jeno’s dad follows, sitting to Jeno’s other side and giving more words of encouragement, and after him his sister’s boyfriend and his mom, who covers half her face with a handkerchief but gives Jaemin a thumbs-up. At last, Jaemin comes out of his hidden spot and settles next to Jeno, and after making sure no one in the park is looking their way he transforms into a human again. 

His hair is messy, as it always is when he transforms, and he runs a hand through it with a nervous laugh before turning to Jeno’s sister, “Thanks, Jeno likes to brush it every morning.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then everyone bursts out laughing. Everyone except Jeno, of course, who has turned slightly pink and is throwing a discontent scowl in Jaemin’s direction. But this one is smiling, so brightly and relieved that it warms up Jeno’s heart. Because, just as Jeno, he knows his family will love both halves of him.

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/cryojun)   
>  [cc](https://curiouscat.me/hamleting_)   
> 


End file.
